Digital Collections

Manuscript Finding Aids Online

Introduction to Finding Aids

Inventories and container lists include varying levels of information about our collections. Container lists are merely a listing of what is in each collection by box or container. Inventories provide more complete information about a collection and its creators. They typically include the following elements:

To locate manuscript materials in repositories both in the United States and internationally, users may search the RLIN AMC database of over 500,000 records. This gateway is maintained by the Library of Congress. LSU Libraries Special Collections also provides searching capabilities for manuscripts collections throughout the United States through Archives USA. This service may only be accessed from a computer on the LSU campus or through an account served by Louisiana State University. For additional information about the LSU Libraries' Special Collections holdings of published materials, as well as manuscripts, be sure to search the Online Public Access Catalog.

The following list of collection titles offers links to our electronic finding aids.